this is the retake of my earlier reply that I am not sure you received.
Bitcoin, it doesn't work well here so definitely not going to work in El Salvador. The locals don't get it and the economy runs on cash and Yankee dollars at that so another denomination is difficult to establish. N0w, the tech savvy surfers and beach goers who own Bitcoin will find it easy to access their coins via cash machines but local beer bars, gas stations, hotels and trinket shops wont.
Real estate seems way out of proportion to the surrounding countries considering the gangs and the violence have just recently been addressed. Wishful thinking on sellers parts - inflate the the prices on the anticipation of better times to come. Not sure if that is a sustainable premise. I look forward to discovering more while there. I will talk to locals who own or know of properties to a get a feel for what they expect as opposed to chain real estate companies inflating their egos and doubling the asking price in hopes of a better profit. It is not unlike them to get a private contract between sellers and agents. the sellers ask for $10,000 the agents advertise $40,000. The buyers pay a commission to the agents and the agents split the extra profits with the sellers who get their $10,000 plus half of the extra $30,000. I have first hand experience of this in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It is the Wild West Show in spades. I expect no difference there.
All said, we are still very interested in finding a place with cooler weather, small town ,40,000-75,000 feel and some adequate restaurants and ambiance. We can always make treks into Santa Ana or San Salvador once a week or once a month to get our Walmart or Costco fix if needed.
Will keep you posted.
John-Marc
